3-D Printed Soft Jaws for a Kurt Vise

This video describes the testing and evaluation of 3-D printed Soft jaws for a Kurt Vise on a milling machine. I experimented using PLA filament material to 3-D print several versions of the soft jaws. As a result of this testing, I determined that the carbon filled filaments are preferred for 3-D printing the soft jaws due t the increased stiffness and rigidity of this filament material.

[@Jcreek201]

Why print them so tall? PLA is plenty strong in compression. But the offset way above the clamping axis is adding unneeded torque to the jaws. Shorten them up so the printed "parallel" surface is just above the top surface of the vise. You'll get more clamping force with far less load on the jaw.

[@eclipseva5601]

I would suggest looking into PLA+ or just printing with polycarbonate as its more consistent and almost exactly as strong as the carbon impregnated filaments. the CF filaments are also really abrasive running through your machine and you will have to replace the nozzle a lot more often.
I would also recommend printing the jaws with the 2"x1" side or 1"x6" side so there is less of a chance of the layers delaminating as that is almost always the failure point of 3D prints.
Another good way to increase rigidity is using the largest washers you can get away with to distribute force more evenly. you can also run bolts through a tapped hole vertically through the part to spread force out through more layers.